Applying the Regulatory Report Card to Tax Regulations

An invited contribution to an issue of the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis honoring the work of the late Dr. Jerry Ellig, this essay recognizes and draws upon the Regulatory Report Card methodology developed by Ellig and Dr. Patrick McLaughlin to evaluate the quality of regulatory impact analysis published by federal government agencies in conjunction with notice-and-comment rulemaking. The essay anticipates a forthcoming study of changes to tax regulatory practices as a result of a 2018 Memorandum of Agreement between the Treasury Department and the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs - a study the authors discussed and hoped to conduct with Ellig before he passed away. The essay summarizes the Regulatory Report Card methodology, offers a brief typology of tax regulations, addresses why regulatory impact analysis and the Regulatory Report Card methodology are appropriate for the tax context, but also documents a few tax-specific adjustments to the Regulatory Report Card methodology.